THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
I dislodged a small stone, not three inches in diameter, which went 
rolling down the slope. Up to that time I could not see that any of the 
rams had suspected my presence, except the three small ones above, 
two of which were then lying down. These small rams evidently 
trusted the larger ones, and even after having seen me approach, 
they were indifferently awaiting some warning of alarm from the 
leaders below. At the sound of that small rock, the whole band jumped 
up at once and started to walk up the slope. It was perfectly calm, 
and I could feel no currents of air. The rams were suspicious and I 
knew that in a moment they would see me.’* 
I have seen wild reindeer in Norway do exactly the same thing. Here 
centuries of hunting have endowed the perceptive faculties of these animals 
with an acuteness only equalled by wild sheep. Of snow or rocks falling 
they took no notice, but if the hunter dislodged a pebble or disturbed 
a bird of any kind, they never stopped to reason, but galloped away at 
once. 
When undisturbed, sheep usually walk up easy places, often stopping to 
pick about amongst the rocks. When ascending or descending a mountain, 
their mode of progression is a succession of walks, runs and jumps. 
When walking, the head of both rams and ewes is carried forward at a 
slight angle, but when stopping at gaze it is raised. 
In the summer sheep are much tormented by flies and mosquitoes, 
and are often to be seen stamping and flicking their sides when these 
pests are oppressive, but they do not seem to stampede from them as deer 
will do. 
Formerly wild sheep were more curious and confiding rather than shy. 
Richardson, in his “ Fauni-Boreali Americana,” says: 
“ Mr Drummond informs me that in the retired part of the moun- 
tains, where hunters seldom penetrated, he found no difficulty in 
approaching the Rocky Mountain sheep, which there exhibited the 
simplicity of character so remarkable in the domestic species; but 
that where they had been often fired at they were exceedingly wild, 
alarmed their companions on the approach of danger by a hissing 
noise, and scaled the rocks with a speed and agility that baffled 
pursuit.” 
All the old hunters of seventy years ago corroborate this, and bear 
testimony that the mountain sheep, which were often then to be seen feeding 
on the prairies in company with the antelope, were the tamest of all animals 
332 
